Julia Krajewski Wraps Wire-to-Wire Win in Luhmühlen CIC3*

Germany’s Julia Krajewski and Samurai du Thot dominated Turniergesellschaft Luhmühlen’s Meßmer Trophy CIC3* from start to finish, finishing on their dressage score of 19.9. The win also earned them the German national title.

“The pressure was definitely on when we came into the final phase today,” Julia says. “Although Sam is a very good show jumper who rarely makes a mistake, I did feel a little nervous. Having one fence in hand helped me stay calm and focused though.”

Julia was contesting Luhmühlen on the heels of Bramham in England, and she credits her team for preparing Sam in her absence: “Because I have been away, I really did not expect this. I feel immensely proud!”

Finishing second in the CIC3*, and second in the German championship, was Ingrid Klimke and SAP Hale Bob OLD. The pair dropped one rail in show jumping today, leaving leader Julia a small amount of breathing room.

“Bobby was fit and fresh today,” Ingrid says. “He jumped his heart out and a pole down can happen anytime. In the end, a clear round would not have made a difference for the end result.”

Rounding out the top three was Japan’s Yoshiaki Oiwa and The Duke of Cavan, who stalked the leaders throughout the weekend then slid into the spot previously occupied by Italy’s Pietro Roman and Barraduff. Pietro issued a disclaimer yesterday that show jumping was not their strong point, and the pair pulled three rails to finish 17th.

“To be up here in such a strong class feels absolutely amazing!,” Yoshiaki says. “My horse is usually very strong and can get a little hot in dressage. But this week he seemed proud to be performing in the stadium. Because he gets so strong in cross country I made some minor changes, which seemed to have done the trick. He was listening, which helped with this technical course. In the show jumping again, he can get very strong but he did not seem to mind the atmosphere and jumped even better than he normally does.”

The fourth-place finisher, Bettina Hoy with Designer 10, was the third best placed German, earning her a spot on the German Championship podium.

“This was my first outing with Designer this year, because I have been so busy with the Dutch team,” Therefore I am even happier to have won a medal again. Designer is a very experienced horse at this level now, so I trusted him to do well. To come fourth in the CIC3* behind one of my former pupils makes me particularly proud!”

Hans Melzer, Germany’s chef d’equipe, announced the long-list for the 2018 WEG in Tryon: Andreas Dibowski, Michael Jung, Ingrid Klimke, Julia Krajewski and Kai Rüder are the top five. Reserve riders are Sandra Auffarth, Jörg Kurbel, Josefa Sommer, Felix Etzel, Andreas Ostholt and Claas Herrmann Romeike. All riders will be competing at CHIO in Aachen, Germany or in Strzegom, Poland later in the year as a final test before a decision is made who is going to represent Germany in Tryon.

Woods Baughman and Maverick McNamara. Photo by Jenni Autry.

The sole American rider in the CIC3,* Woods Baughman, finished strong in the show jumping today. Woods Baughman, 22, and Maverick McNamara, a 14-year-old British Warmblood (Medoc x Skippy), had one rail down to complete the event in 41st place.

“We’ve been working on really being able to compress his stride,” Woods says of his round. “I think he was feeling quite proud of himself after galloping around yesterday and just ready to jump.”

Woods is spending a year training overseas in Germany with Dirk Schrade, and he says Luhmühlen was a big learning weekend: “It wasn’t the result we wanted but the result we probably needed.”

As for takeaways, he says, “Just being in charge of every moment, staying a little behind him, not too much with the hands and riding him forward every step — taking what we have and going for it.”

Next on the agenda for this pair is Strzegom Horse Trials in Poland at the end of the month. Between now and then, Woods says, they’ll take it easy this week then work on finessing their dressage. “Next week we’ll do the test a few more times to try to make it a bit smoother,” he says.

Best of luck, Woods, and that’s a wrap for Luhmühlen 2018. Go Eventing!

Luhmühlen Meßmer Trophy CIC3* Final Top 10: 

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